1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a vehicle airbag system. More specifically, the invention relates to a vehicle airbag system provided with a vehicle crash sensor that detects a vehicle impact, and an airbag module that is provided in interior equipment positioned in front of a front-seat occupant and that includes an inflator and an airbag. The airbag is deployed by actuating the inflator when the vehicle crash sensor detects a vehicle impact, in order to protect the front-seat occupant.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such an airbag system is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2004-203226. The vehicle airbag system described in this publication includes an upper-body airbag and a knee airbag for a front-seat occupant. The upper-body airbag is provided in an upper portion of an instrument panel, and the knee airbag is provided in a lower portion of the instrument panel.
In a vehicle described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2004-203226, the vertical size of the instrument panel is large. Accordingly, the upper portion of the instrument panel is close to a windshield, and the lower portion of the instrument panel is close to the knees of the front-seat occupant. Accordingly, the upper-body airbag appropriately is deployed using the upper portion of the instrument panel and the windshield as reaction-force members, and the knee airbag is appropriately deployed using the lower portion of the instrument panel as a reaction-force member.
However, when a thin (vertically small-sized) instrument panel or a moderately raked windshield is employed, an upper-body airbag, a knee airbag, etc. having large bag capacities and a larger inflator need to employed, resulting in a need for a larger airbag module that can house these large inflator and airbags. In these cases, members (the windshield or the instrument panel) that support the deployed airbag are distant from the position where the airbag module are provided, which makes it difficult to obtain a reaction force.